Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden drops you into an eerie world of specters and curses. Itâs a gentle start, and the game is good about teaching you mechanics as it introduces them, but there are still things we wish we knew when we started.
Our Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden guide will help you get started with tips weâve picked up from our first 10 hours of playing.
Pick up everything
There arenât a ton of resources that youâll find as you wander the world around New Eden, but what you find will be useful. Every hoof fungus, scrap of leather, and lilac hyacinth has a use â namely, gear upgrades and rituals.
Pick up everything. Even things you donât know how youâll use since theyâll probably come up in gear upgrades a little later. Sure, youâll eventually be carrying 200 wild chervils, but itâs better to have extras than not enough when itâs time for a ritual.
Perform the right ritual for the task
Red has the option to perform three different rituals in the course of his banisher duties: Harken, Make-Manifest, and Summon Scourge. Each has a different use case:
- Harken is to remember something by reenacting a memory
- Make-Manifest makes a ghost reveal themselves
- Summon Scourge⌠well, Summon Scourge doesnât come up in the gameâs first 10 hours or so.
More importantly, thereâs no penalty for performing the wrong ritual beyond losing some resources (see above). You can always just try again with a different ritual. In general, though, youâll use Harken while looking for clues, Make-Manifest for a confrontation, and Summon Scourge to (presumably) summon a scourge later in the game.
Elements of gameplay not being introduced for a while is actually a theme worth mentioningâŚ
Donât rush the game
Phrases like ânarrative-drivenâ or ânarrative-focusedâ donât really explain game mechanics, so think of Banishers not as being on rails so much as it is surrounded by bumpers.
Banishers has some of the trappings of both open-world games and action-RPGs â youâre free to wander the map and tackle challenges in any order you want, youâll find unpassable paths youâll have to return to later, you upgrade your gear and choose abilities along a skill tree â but donât approach the game as if it was truly open-world.
Itâs guiding you along its story and it will add in mechanics and ways to open those blocked paths on its own schedule. Youâre in charge of the pacing â you can wander off if you want to â but the story unfolds in a set order and youâll get upgrades like a rifle on the gameâs own timeline.
One thing you have a little more control over is when to do â and sometimes whether or not to do â haunting cases.
Solve haunting cases for skill points
Haunting cases are quick little side missions where you, in your role as a banisher, investigate a haunting, find hints and intentions, and then dispatch the ghost. Especially early on, many of these are along the main storyâs path, but even when theyâre optional, they have an important reward â skill points and essences.
Beyond that, haunting cases figure in to the gameâs larger story arc (and moral dilemma), so theyâll further that story along. (For deeper guides, check out our walkthroughs for two early game haunting cases, âThe Old Friendsâ and âThe Flesh is Weak.â)
At a campfire where you rest, youâll have the option to go into your skill tree in the gameâs Evolution menu. Thatâs where youâll spend skill points and essences to unlock new fighting abilities. You can even switch around skills youâve already unlocked for free which allows you toâŚ
Experiment with the Evolution skill tree to match your play
During combat, youâll switch back and forth between Red and Antea to make use of their strengths. Antea is better at punching ghost out of corporeal bodies while Red is better at slashing through ghosts with his banisher weapons. Red can block incoming attacks while Antea ignores opponentsâ blocks.
Mixing together your two fighters and their light and heavy attacks takes some getting used to. But you can modify that with the skill trees.
Spending skill points and essences in the skill trees lets you modify how Red and Antea fight. Youâll do things like add a punch from Antea after Red hits three times or adding a charged heavy attack or just getting an extra health decoction.
Skills lie along paths and you canât chose two branches at the same time. For example, on the Unveil tree, youâll have to pick either Pocket of Holding for an extra health potion or Tag-Team to add a fourth light attack. You canât have both. Luckily, at a campfire, you can switch around skills youâve unlocked freely. Do that. Often. Experiment and find a set of skills that work for you.
Speaking of combatâŚ
Timing dodges is tricky
This isnât a huge tip, but itâs taken us a long, frustrating time to adjust to it. During combat, when the glowing threat ring switches to red, it means an attack is incoming.
However, if you dodge immediately, that attack will reorient and hit you anyway. Think of it more as âan attack is about to happenâ than âan attack is happening.â When you see the red glow, youâve got a beat or two to before you have to dodge.
